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John Madrid



 
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LaggsZ
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Joined: 29 Jan 2019
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PostPosted: Fri May 29, 2020 11:34 pm    Post subject: John Madrid Reply with quote

I was listening to some jazz this evening and heard a great trumpet solo by John Madrid. I had never heard of him before, so I "googled" him and found a brief biography, which was interesting. Unfortunately, John Madrid passed away in 1990 at the age of 42. I don't mean to be asking a morbid question, but I found it curious that I could find no cause of death, no obituary. I don't mean to sound morbid, but given his great playing, his passing seemed somewhat ignored in the media. Does anyone know the cause of death? Does anyone know why his passing was not more "noteworthy" in the media?
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deleted_user_02066fd
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PostPosted: Sat May 30, 2020 4:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

His Wikipedia page says he died from HIV.
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kehaulani
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PostPosted: Sat May 30, 2020 5:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Always check Wikipedia first, LOL. Saves a lot of time.
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LaggsZ
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PostPosted: Sat May 30, 2020 9:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm sorry -- you are right. I did read the Wiki page and for some reason missed that. However, I will say that there was surprisingly less information on the web about John Madrid that I would have expected given his talent.
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Tony Scodwell
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Joined: 17 Oct 2005
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PostPosted: Sat May 30, 2020 9:57 am    Post subject: John Madrid Reply with quote

John played many years here in Las Vegas, mostly with Wayne Newton. He was a proper lead player with super high chops and always had two trumpets with appropriate mouthpieces on the stand during performances. When he had some high stuff coming he could switch trumpets quickly to his favorite high note trumpet and mouthpiece. He was certainly not alone in that regard as Doc Severinsen always had his Bob Reeves "Zinger" mouthpiece on the stand and would change to it without missing a beat when some high stuff was coming. The best example is the great Lou Soloff. He would have some jazz choruses to play and go down front with several mouthpieces and change during the solo. Don Jacoby told him, "Lou, find a mouthpiece that works and solder it on. You have enough trouble being Jewish." Jake had a way with words.

Another great lead player in Las Vegas that doesn't get proper recognition is Charley Turner, for many years the Caesars Palace lead player. Charley caught Frank Sinatra's ear as Sinatra played Caesars many times during that period and Sinatra hired him to be his lead trumpet player. There are some great recordings that Charley is on worth checking out.

Tony Scodwell
www.scodwellusa.com
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LaggsZ
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PostPosted: Sat May 30, 2020 10:06 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks Tony. There should be a section at TH just for personal stories (within reason, of course) about the great players. That history will soon be lost otherwise.

Take care and best wishes


Last edited by LaggsZ on Thu Jun 25, 2020 3:57 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Gregory Gilmore
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PostPosted: Sat May 30, 2020 11:45 am    Post subject: John Madrid Reply with quote

Tony...thank you for mentioning Charley Turner! I have always admired his great sound and approach. Please share any stories or recollections you might have of him; when I lived in Vegas, I asked around about him and was met with giggling and eye rolls...
The OP should ask K.O. Skinses about John Madrid as he studied with him while living in Hawaii...
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dershem
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PostPosted: Sun May 31, 2020 8:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Got to work with john a couple of times, Great guy, monster player. very melodic, plus a hell of a lead player.
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rothman
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PostPosted: Tue Dec 29, 2020 7:25 pm    Post subject: Re: John Madrid Reply with quote

Tony Scodwell wrote:
John played many years here in Las Vegas, mostly with Wayne Newton. He was a proper lead player with super high chops and always had two trumpets with appropriate mouthpieces on the stand during performances. When he had some high stuff coming he could switch trumpets quickly to his favorite high note trumpet and mouthpiece.


Tony, if you happen to recall a lead player that already had been on Newton's band similar to Charley Turner...Albert, and why Madrid was brought in to play lead on top of him when there was already a fairly good one on the band. Apparently Madrid was obsessed with the octave above Dbl C..but for an act like Wayne Newton, it's hard to see what the point of that would be.

Imo one of the best things he ever recorded was on the hit record by the Outsiders. Great playing but it was no big deal to him, and he set out to conquer much higher notes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbuqNuZHsFo


Last edited by rothman on Fri Mar 31, 2023 7:06 pm; edited 1 time in total
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John Mohan
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Joined: 13 Nov 2001
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Location: Chicago, Illinois

PostPosted: Wed Dec 30, 2020 1:47 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I wrote the following about John back in 2009 on the TH:

John Mohan wrote:
John Madrid was one of the most musical, tasteful lead trumpet players I ever played with. And he was an amazing gentleman. My first wife Dara and I often had parties at our house back during the hayday of the LA Jazz Workshop era. John was always so nice to have around. During those parties I'd often find him out in the backyard visiting with my two dogs, both of whom loved him. One way to judge people is to see how they get along with kids and pets. John passed with flying colors.

John was one of the very, very very few trumpet players who could play in the Cat Anderson range but also play beautiful, lyrical stuff down low.

Simply an amazing man who is missed by many including me.

Sincerely,

John Mohan
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Tony Scodwell
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 30, 2020 10:30 am    Post subject: John Madrid and Newton Reply with quote

Most of the years I had the unfortunate job of playing Newton at the Frontier Hotel, a fellow by the name of Al Longo was his lead player. In our section were some great lead players like Charley Davis and Walt Blanton. To put it mildly and as honestly as I can, we drank to excess out of self defense. Longo was always getting into the act with Newton to the extent of a bit where he dropped his pants. Lead trumpet playing wasn't his forte in my opinion and later on Newton added John Madrid to his group. Newton carried about eight people with him in his Howard Hughes owned Summa Corporation days when he "was on top" in Las Vegas playing 43 weeks a year at the Hughes owned hotels and his performances were always very long, sometimes approaching three hours. Of all the Hughes hotels that he worked at, the Frontier was the only one where the band received the proper money for all the overtime. The other hotels were the Sands and Desert Inn. Newton's "juice" with the entertainment impresario saw him install his piano player leader as band director at the Sands which certainly saw the extra money earned to somehow get forgotten. The leader at the Desert Inn didn't have much guts and those players didn't get what was coming to them either. Charley Davis was the lead trumpet and contractor at the Frontier and when Newton worked there, all overtime was paid as Charley made it clear to the bandleader that none of this would be tolerated. It came close several times to physical confrontations as Newton's traveling group would be required to have meetings after each show to discuss who in the band wasn't partaking in the schtick to Newton's satisfaction and one of his group would approach the "offender" and mention that you may be gone if you don't play along. After a few of these conversations more than one Newton group member was banged up against the hallway wall.

I've said it many times to friends who thought Newton was indeed "Mr. Las Vegas" that for me, it was the most degrading thing I've ever done in my career.

Tony Scodwell
www.scodwellusa.com
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trpthrld
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 30, 2020 11:08 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Gotta love Charley Davis - didn't take any crap from anyone.
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Vin DiBona
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PostPosted: Wed Dec 30, 2020 3:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I always wondered who was nailing that high part in Time Won't Let Me.
Now I know.
R.Tomasek
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chase1973
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 18, 2021 12:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Guys, check my youtube page (JJ Martin) lots of great vintage bootlegs, including Johnny Madrid BTW a Madrid Project is in the final stages
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trpthrld
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 18, 2021 3:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

chase1973 wrote:
Guys, check my youtube page (JJ Martin) lots of great vintage bootlegs, including Johnny Madrid BTW a Madrid Project is in the final stages

That's quite a page you have there, Sir!

www.youtube.com/user/chasefreak/videos
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feedback@stomvi-usa
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PostPosted: Fri Mar 31, 2023 2:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

In case you haven't seen this piece I cut together about John Madrid:

https://youtu.be/wbPi8y3wPDg

Enjoy,
K.O.
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